Experience With Cutler Hammer (Eaton) CH Series Panels

OP:

It’s worth doing a serious survey about how much power you will actually use. I can’t imagine a family of 4 actually using 200A of service unless you have multiple kitchens and more than 3 heat pumps and/or a workshop, but doing separate panels to simplify the Generac install makes sense.

Best,

Erik

I also, lastly want to point out that I don’t know why audiophiles are obsessed with the best connection to the outdoor supply. A little resistance and inductance in the wiring and panels can be very beneficial to reducing noise and the effect of surges. There’s little guarantee that noise goes down as you get closer to the transformer outside. 

Some R and L at the panel, and wiring from the transformer can be quite beneficial.

Another thing, if this is new construction, consider where your cable modem and wifi router will be. You might want to run fiber between them, and locate the wifi router in a more wifi optimal location than the cable modem. The main reason for the fiber is to prevent surges from outside the building from entering and frying everything connected to an Ethernet cable.

Also, if your wifi router will be 30' or more from your streamers, consider fiber there also, as it will reduce/eliminate chances of lightning induced surges from being picked up.

Well, Federal Pacific were among the most notoriously bad panels ever made. Not only did the back planes make poor contact but the breakers often failed to trip on overload.

Square D, Siemens, Eaton CH are all really good. My preference is for in-panel surge protectors as opposed to bolt on units. I’d suggest go with whichever your electrician recommends that allows a surge protector to plug directly onto the back plane instead of being wired in. This minimizes inductance and puts the surge protector closest to the incoming power lines.